REVIEW SCORES
MCV provides the most important average review scores
of the last few days – all sourced from Metacritic...

85%

Ratchet & Clank:
Crack In Time
Sony, PS3

84%

83%

81%

79%

Borderlands,
PS3, 2K Games

Tropico 3,
PC, Deep Silver

A Boy and his Blob,
Wii, Majesco

Ghostbusters,
360, Atari

*Metacritic scores correct at the time of going to press

DEAL
OF THE WEEK

‘LONG TAIL’ EXPECTED FOR DJ HERO
The co-founder of Guitar Hero Kai Huang
has stated that a slow start at retail will not
be unexpected for DJ Hero – although the
title’s overall sales curve could prove to be
more impressive.
“We’re not expecting a typical video
game curve where you sell the majority of
the units in the first month and then it
decays quickly,” Huang told IGN. “We’re
expecting this to be the type of game that
may come out of the gate a little bit slower,
but continue to grow over time.”
Huang added that he also expects that
the series’ true success could come in
future iterations as exposure and
understanding of the title slowly grows.
“Guitar Hero took three iterations to get
the game out there and for people to know
how it works,” he said
PES 2010 SHINES ON PS3
The PS3 has emerged as the clear platform of
choice for Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer.
The PS3 version of PES 2010, which was
released last Friday, accounted for 66 per
cent of the game’s overall sales, with Xbox

OCTOBER BOOM ON HIGH STREET
UK High Street sales in the year up to
October showed the most positive rate of
growth in two years, research has shown.
The CBI’s latest monthly Distributive
Trades Survey showed that the High Street
expects even stronger growth in November.
41 per cent of respondents to the survey
said that sales volumes had risen in the
year to October, while 33 per cent said they
were down.
19 per cent of retailers expected sales to
increase in November – the most optimistic
projection since July 2007.
In terms of stock, three per cent of firms
said the volume of orders placed had
fallen, but many predicted orders would
rise in November.

MCV POLL
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT WILL SELL
NINTENDO WII THIS CHRISTMAS?

INDIE CHARTS - ALL FORMATS
LAST
WEEK

360 claiming less than half that (32 per
cent). The PC version claimed just two per
cent of the week one sales.
However, despite storming to the top of
the UK charts, PES 2010 actually fared far
worse at retail than its predecessor, PES
2009, selling 39 per cent fewer copies in
its first weekend.

FOR UP-TO-DATE NEWS ON THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS ON THE UK HIGH
STREET, CHECK OUT: WWW.MCVUK.COM/RETAIL-BIZ

Gamers save £50 at Zavvi when
they buy a 120Gb PS3 Slim, PES
2010, a HDMI cable and Basic
Instinct on Blu-ray for £279.95.

THIS
WEEK

MCV offers a weekly digest of the latest news
on the High Street...

TITLE/FORMAT

36%

1

FORZA MOTORSPORT 3

2

NEW

BORDERLANDS 360

3

NEW

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2010 PS3

FORMAT: 360

34%

Black Wii

PUBLISHER

More than a third of
participants in the
latest MCV online
survey have faith that
Nintendo’s new Wii
SKU will perform well
at retail, while another
third believe New
Super Mario Bros Wii
will outsell the platform
holder’s other titles.

New Super
Mario Bros Wii

DEVELOPER: TURN 10 PUBLISHER: MICROSOFT
2K GAMES

4

NEW

WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2010 360

5

NEW

FORZA MOTORSPORT 3: LIMITED EDITION 360

KONAMI
THQ

5%

14%

11%

Wii Fit Plus

Wii Sports Resort

MICROSOFT

6

NEW

WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2010 360

THQ

7

NEW

WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW 2010 PS3

THQ

8

1

UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES PS3

9

6

OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2 PS3

CODEMASTERS

10

5

OPERATION FLASHPOINT 2 360

CODEMASTERS

MARGIN MAKER

SONY

Charts compiled by Game Guide/Complete EPOS Solutions. For more information
about Complete EPOS Solutions call 01543 370002. For more information about the
Game Guide call 01606 836347.

Introducing the new

Mario & Sonic: Olympic
Winter Games

Thrustmaster’s Best Of
Pack features 15 essential
items for DSi owners.
The central piece is a
travel bag which safely
houses the handheld, and
is accompanied by three
game card storage cases.
Also included is a car
charger and emergency

Take part in MCV’s
next poll at
www.mcvuk.com

charger. There are three
replacement stylus pens,
a cleaning cloth and
screen protectors, a wrist
strap and high quality
earphones.
The pack is available in
black, white and pack.
Guillemot:
01932 557546
Exclusively
Distributed by

sales, but I guess we are all in the same
boat. Another concern this year is getting
our staffing levels just right for the busy
period: too many staff and they just stand
around getting paid to drink tea and
coffee, too few and they burn out after a
week of hard work.

FRONTLINE
Nindie.com speaks to
online indie EverythingPlay’s
MD Tony West…
How has the market been for you so
far this year?
We have had a cracking year so far –
fingers crossed – and our sales are up
year-on-year by 200 per cent. We are
branching into lots of new areas of sales
such as DVD, books and music so the
future is looking really bright as well. We
have seen a lot of new customers shop
with us as well as lots of repeat buying
through the year.

What makes your site unique?
I think it’s the ease of use and our layout.
We are constantly told that our site is
really easy to use. Another key USP is we
show our customers the basket total at
the top of our page from the moment

they start to shop and this includes the
shipping cost if there is one. I find it so
annoying when I am shopping online and I
find a great deal only to get all the way to
the payment stage and see the merchant
has adding £4 or £5 shipping to my order.
What are the biggest challenges
facing your site?
The Royal Mail strikes are a real concern.
We are giving our customers the option to
upgrade to a courier service but people
want free delivery nowadays. With Royal
Mail striking between now and Christmas,
I am genuinely worried it will hurt our

What has been performing well?
PC games for us are on the up. In
particular, the Oblivion: Knights of the
Nine expansion pack – we just can’t get
enough of those right now. Also Professor
Layton and Pandora’s Box has done really
well for us and continues to sell through.
What has been underperforming?
The Wii hasn’t performed how I thought it
would. However, there are signs of an
uplift this week – the new bundle is great
value so its weird we haven’t seen a spike
in sales.
Have you noticed any changes in
your customer demographic over
the last year?
We are seeing younger and younger
customers who are hardcore gamers after
the best price for their new releases.

360 ................................................................2K GAMES

Mario and Mama gear up for Xmas
Modern Warfare 2 may be grabbing the headlines, but November is filled to the rafters with major video game releases.
Ubisoft’s gorgeous looking Assassin’s Creed II arrives at retail that month, along with 505 Games’ DS hit Cooking Mama 3,
Nintendo’s highly-promising New Super Mario Bros Wii and Capcom’s latest Resident Evil…
TITLE

The Cooking Mama phenomenon continues with its third instalment this month on
Nintendo DS. The Mama brand
has sold an incredible seven
million units worldwide, and
505 Games is backing this latest release with a big marketing
push.

New Super Mario Bros. is one of
the DS’ biggest sellers, attracting both core Mario fans and
casual players. This Wii sequel
promises to go even further,
with up to four players able to
play at once. The game is
backed by a multi-million pound
marketing campaign.